Little lost dragon and I

[little lost dragon]

Fren cried in her mates armsfor a good long time. Now that she was safe with him she could just let it out. She did her speices version of hiccups from crying for so long and hard, wrapped up and in her mates protective yet gentle embrace. While to others it might of seemed strange she had trouble remembering home now, but to her, much more time has passed now. She looked up at him as he spoke of home, and gave a shaky nod when he told her they'd get through this. She sobbed some more and eventually allowed her self to drift off to sleep in his embrace.

 

A little bit of time later the tent door slowly shifted to the side to show the commander of the Shatong teams. She looked at Guthrie for permission to enter silently. She held up a bag of some creature looking things. When allowed she entered and set the bag down on the small bedside counter. "Some things, hard to miss her distress signels she's now broad casting, like she had been crying out for help for a long time..... what happened? She was fine only a day ago." she asked very quietly

 

Vita looked at the construction K-Bot then to the siblings "I can make most of that, few things I can not however, but finding them in the base should not be too hard. Who shall make them and use them?" he asked.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie was inclined to say no to the Shatong, but after a moment he nodded and watched the commander enter.

"Our enemy is very dangerous." He said quietly, gently wiping away Fren's tears as she slept. "She can do a lot of things beyond comprehension, including it seems, look into others memories." Guthrie closed his eyes, remembering some of the images the Cadence had projected from Avira's memory unable to even grasp how horrible the entire experience had been.

"One of our... Our colleagues named Avira, was part of a light military unit. On her planet she is considered a second class citizen in some places, and enslaving her and others like her is allowed. She and her squad were captured by a brothel, where they were tortured and raped for over a year. Her kind are born with tools in their heads, and the place made her and her friends enjoy it, even though they were all deeply scarred by the experience. Somehow Nuria made them both relive the entire experience, the whole year and a half, in minutes. Three times..." He whispered, holding Fren to his cheek and squeezing his eyes shut. "I failed her once, that's how she got her scar. I failed her and she was tortured. We managed to rescue her after a month. I promised her I'd never fail her again, and... And I did. I'm not fit to love her, or our children. I have power and strength, but I can't protect my wife." He took a deep, shuddering breath before turning to look at the commander again. "What's in the bag?" He asked quietly, gently rubbing Fren's shoulder with his thumb.

 

"You will need a blacksmith." Medad said. "When the materials are ready each of us will help give the weapon form and function. Only after the weapon is completed will a candidate be chosen to wield it."

"A warning though." Bor said suddenly. "Once the purpose of these weapons is fulfilled they will cease to exist. No one will keep these weapons after their purpose is completed."

[little lost dragon]

The commander sighed and nodded. "My people have prison pods where we can make one go through something similar, though never.... that nature." she replied "Over a years worth of suffering of such nature.... we'll need to keep a close on her, the power of thought can be strong, she..... she might die from this, I'm sure she's already explained this, we don't die from age, but too much stress can kill us. Or remove our ageless factor." she admitted.

When Guthrie said he was not fit anymore she looking him in the eye's "Guthrie, do not lead your self astray thinking such things, some events are simply out or our control. You can't blame your self for things that could not be changed. shes back with you now and now you do what you can." she said quietly but in a commanding manner. "I vowed the same vow she did when she was first allowed into training, to protect her people at all costs. But some died anyway, are you going to tell me we are not fit to do our job to the best of our ability?" she quietly asked. She straighten up and brought out one of the tools. It squirmed a little in her hand.

"We call them Stengles. What they do is when digested, release a chemical into the body that forces it to relax, like a paralyzing poison, but with out the damage. If she has one before bed for a few nights, her chances of recovering from this, stress wise at least, are raised. Should also prevent any nightmares if comboed with your presents with her seeing as she still allows you close despite her..... 3 added years." she explained putting it back into the bag which seemed to be made out of a membrain.

She got up and gave Guthrie a nod "Don't dwell on what you could not prevent Guthrie, do what you can when you can though." she said quietly before leaving.

 

Vita paused "Then they shall vanish once Nuria is no longer at large of causing this war again. As being shown, she's remembering things, even if the memories are blocked, seems some mortal things work for your kind as well. Such as subconshues. No one can fully block memory's from it." he said before turning and leaving. The construction bot closing its top again and walking after him.

 

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie looked at the object in the commanders hand, then down as the commander told him to not think about being unworthy. He didn't do anything until the tent was empty once more, at which point he hugged Fren once more and closed his own eyes, swaying with Fren in his arms.

"I'm sorry Fren." He whispered, holding the Shatong to him, hoping that she could understand what he was saying. "I'm sorry I failed. I love you so much, I've loved you since that day you said you believed me. I told you about the forest spirits, how they are strange and can hurt people who aren't careful, but not all of them are bad. One is called the Gichi, and it's a spirit of good. We believe that it brings peace, prosperity, and love at first sight. I didn't ever believe in that spirit until that day, I just thought it was a fairytale. But when I met you, when you were so kind to me, when you believed me, I loved you then and I love you now." Guthrie whispered, gently kissing Fren's cheek. After that he settled in, taking up a comfortable position so that he could continue to hold Fren and take a nap as well, his arms never once letting go of her as he began to snooze.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2014 by Ryujin13

[little lost dragon]

Some time later Vita returned to the cells with a black smith that had joined the army with his friends. Vita put the peices down that he was carrying onto the floor along with the black smith "Constructed as instructed." he said

 

Fren woke up slowly and felt her mates arms around her, his body protectively around her's still. She did not move content to remain like this. She noticed the bag and frowned a little, it looked familer yet..... she could not place exactly why. Then a flash back happened and she closed her eye's fighting it off. Her breathing quickened and her body tensed and she gripped Guthrie tightly. The thoughts that said she should be dead returned and she shook her head. She did remember though who caused this, and that the source still had Avira.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie woke up as he felt Fren tense and begin to breath quickly. He could guess what was happening and immediately began to try and calm her.

"Shh, it's alright Fren, it's alright. You're safe in a medical tent." He murmured, stroking her arm gently. "I know it felt real, but none of what happened was real. That woman made you relive someone else's memories. They didn't happen to you, they were just a trick, an illusion." He whispered, giving Fren a small hug with one arm. "I love you, and I'll protect you always." He gently kissed her cheek and reached over to grasp the bag which he pulled closer. "The Shatong commander dropped this off for you. We talked, and she told me that if you take one of these a day before sleeping, it will help calm you down so that you don't hurt yourself." He explained. "I don't know how they work, but I assume you do." He held her gently after handing her the bag, trying to calm her with his presence.

 

Bor and Medad looked up as Vita entered the tent, then down at the items that had been brought. Each one was a long bar of colored metal, each one a different color from the next. The green one was given to Bor, blue to Medad, and an off white color to Cadence.

Starting with Bor each one touched the bar with both hands and took a breath, concentrating hard as the metal began to glow. Each bar seemed to melt under their touch and reform into a weapon.

Medads flowed into a long curved shape eventually coming to rest as beautiful blue axe about three feet long, its blade shaped like a crashing wave. Medads metal turned into a long sword, it's blade shaped like a leaf, it's grip in the shape of a tree, the branches serving as hand guards. Cadences weapon turned into a longbow, it's shape elegant and carefully swirled, colored like a cloud on a sunny day near the middle, with the ends colored like a beautiful blue sky. A quiver also formed, colored like a blue sky as well and decorated with inlaid clouds as well. The arrows in it were cloud white, and were perfectly formed.

As one the three siblings passed the weapons to Vita before slumping back, exhausted.

"We gave the weapons form as requested. Each is imbued with our power, and can take on the form most suited for the task at hand. When done with the task, they will return to the form they are in now. The quiver is endless of course, and each gives the bearer the skill of the greatest weapon master." Medad said tiredly. "We can choose bearers, but it isn't just a matter of strength, or prowess, it's a number of unquantifiable things. To be frank we would choose Avira, Fren and Guthrie, but two of those three aren't available, and Guthrie would probably rather stay with Fren." Medad said, sitting on his bunk.

"That being said we can choose from other-"

A soldier suddenly ran in carrying a box and handed it to Vita, explaining that one of Nuria's messengers had dropped it off before running back down the hall.

The moment Vita touched the box a hologram appeared of Avira, nude and crucified to a wall of the castle, spikes cruely driven through her palms and ankles so that she hung a few feet above the floor. She was obviously in a great deal of pain as she was screaming silently, blood dripping from her wounds, not all of which were caused by the spikes. Long slashes covered her front, each cutting through her flesh and into the muscle beneath.

Suddenly Nuria stepped in front of the hologram, obscuring Avira.

"It's been an hour and I still don't see dear little Alina." She said calmly. "I told you that I was not a patient woman you know, and frankly you've begun to anger me. Avira has too but at least she provides som sport. Anyway, most of my army is back, I'm letting them have their fun with the fox here, but soon enough we're going to begin doing real damage. The good thing is I can restore her back to normal whenever she's to damaged so that we can start again, but I only give her mind three, maybe four times of thatrouble before it breaks and she's rendered insane. So, for the next few hours I'm going to skin her alive. She won't fall unconscious, she won't stop feeling pain, and she will scream the whole time. When that's finished I'll send you a nice new pelt. Then we start again until I have my little dragon. If little Alina has any sort of soul, she should realize, being bred isn't near as bad as what Avira here is going through. Do you really want to have this fox to be driven insane just so you won't have to do what's natural? I'd look deep before deciding. Brothers and sisters, I'd bet you're watching this too. You drove me to this. Your plans and schemes, taking away my memories, removing parts of me just to avoid what could happen? Maybe you should have considered other options, maybe trying to talk to me would have worked? Who knows?! Not me, because you've removed parts of me thousands of times! This is your fault, all of it! Everything I do is because of you!" Nuria shouted, nearly crying before hitting the hologram and turning it off.

Bor closed his eyes when the hologram turned off while Medad just shook his head and sat quietly on his bunk. Cadence began to cry in the corner of her cell, shaking her head back and forth as though arguing silently with herself.

[little lost dragon]

Vita took the weapons and watched the hologram. He then turned to the 3 beings "Fren is ready still she's broken for now, but this might prove a asset in this situation. Fuel her will to defeat Nuria. Not the first time she's faced trial that could render others insane." he said "And Guthrie her mate will have a score now to settle as well, also fueling his drive and bypassing his fear of death. And once we can free Avira, a being can be driven to fear only so much before they explode, and if she's anything like her creators, she's passed her point of giving up, and approaching the line of kill or be killed." he explained "As such the situation, we act now, or the odds get too far stacked against us." he said before turning around with the weapons.

 

Fren closed her eye's and took a deep breath, her breathing shaky again "I.... I know.... its just hard to.... lock them away when you've been forced through them like that." she admitted closing her eye's "Such things...... I'd be dead if they where true.... and I feel like I should be dead but I'm not..... my breathing is proof its all.... fake, not true for me." she said before she buried her head in Guthrie's chest again and cried a little more. She pulled her self together again after a little bit and looked at the bag "Yes those things..... was fed them when I first began my training when I was very young. Squirmy things, even I don't know entirely how they work.... in a nut shell, in human terms, they restore some of my kinds.... 'immortality'.... humans sometimes call us immortal as age does not kill us."

She looked up as thudding could be heard along with the rattle of weapons. Then some arguing with a robotic voice then more thudding then the tent door opened to show Vita. He came in and looked at them.

"Sorry for the short time for recovery, but time demands we move faster." he said putting down the weapons "These are for you both and Avira, pick one, get familer with it, meet me as soon as possible. I'll be in the command tent. Nuria is massing her army again." he said rather bluntly before leaving with that.

 

Fren blinked and looked at Guthrie and sighed. "Impaired or not...... duty calls, sounds like if we wait for this to blow over, we'll find out just what Nuria wants for the universes." she said before closing her eye's and taking a deep breath "Sounds like this will be the final time we fight for this place....... guess the first was a little too easy." she said before opening her bright yellow eye's and looking into Guthrie's.

Edited November 23, 2014 by little lost dragon

[Ryujin13]

"No Fren." Guthrie said, floating in front of his wife and putting a hand out. "You're hurt, please don't go out there."

Guthrie already knew he had lost this fight, once Fren had made a decision like this he would have better luck trying to break through a wall with his head.

Finally he hugged her tight to him, burying his face in her shoulder as he wrapped his body around her's.

"I'm sorry for failing again Fren." Guthrie murmured. "I broke my promise, but I truly did do everything I could, and I will continue to do that. I will do everything I can to protect you Fren. I love you now and always." He said, pulling back and kissing Fren.

He broke the contact after a few seconds, then turned and floated over to the weapons, surveying each one.

Without a secon thought Guthrie grasped the green leaf blade and watched as the metal seemed to melt and reform into a metal bracelet that covered his bicep.

Without warning Guthrie felt a surge of pure energy surge into him, his every muscle, his every fiber becoming energized. He felt as though he could lift up Vita himself and throw him like a doll. His every sense was a hundred times more powerful, his eyes seeing further and seeing more, showing him colors he hadn't ever noticed before, picking out details so minuscule that it was almost like he was looking through a microscope.

He could hear the people outside the tent, their voices, muffled before, now clear as day, their every word picked out in exquisite detail as though he were standing right next to him.

without warning he was holding a staff and the arm band was gone, but the traits remained. What was more he suddenly understood everything about his new weapon, every move, strategy, stance, every possible way he could use the staff to harm someone else.

In all it was like he was an entirely new person, his body was larger, bulkier and more muscular, he held himself in a state of combat readiness, like someone who had been trained for war his entire life.

Guthrie took a breath as his fear melted away and he turned to watch Fren pick her weapon, taking a deep breath as he rolled himself, popping a few joints as he stretched his new form.

[little lost dragon]

Fren hugged Guthrie back as he said he failed her. She knew that he stilled blamed him self for that other event years ago. "I know Guthrie, and that is why I love you and trust you, you do what you can and that matters more then you'll ever know to me." she said gently before kissing him back.

 

She watched him pick his weapon, a green leaf blade. It seemed to melt in Guthrie's hand before forming to a large bracelet on his wrist before his body seemed to get enhanced. She got up and picked the blue blade.

When she made contact with it it seemed to send a wave of blue energy down her arm and it spread to the rest of her body before 3 points on her began to glow where her brains where located. As they glowed her body also seemed to get enhanced. Her arms became stronger, her legs went from a lean to a more muscular flow. Her tail seemed to become more firm. She closed her eye's and the 3 points slowly faded before she opened her eye's again. Her slit piupils had gotten more slime, and her yellow eye's seemed to glow now. Her hearing was also enhanced though her chemical radar seemed to say just about everything there was to know about all the beings in range.

She looked at Guthrie as the sword reshaped into a shield with the long blade at the front. "Guess its easy to guess where these came from." she commented flexing her legs a little. Her body looked more mucled, but it all followed into her form and not quite as bulky. She gave a test swing of her new weapon and smiled. "Guess vita was not told much about these, lets go meet up." she said

 

Vita was talking with the other generals explaining the plan he had in place. Which involved ambushes, and quick strikes after the 2 of the 3 avatars moved in to confront Nuria.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie watched his wife's transformation with awe as she visibly changed, her very body sculpting into what could only be considered the perfect form for Shatong physiology. He could safely assume that the same thing could be said about himself, which didn't mean much since his entire species was so varied that there really couldn't be a 'perfect' form.

Without thinking he went over to Fren and kissed her again, his arms wrapping around her in a tight, but gentle, embrace.

When the kiss ended he still hugged Fren, his muscular arms holding her close as he placed his forehead against hers.

"After we're done here, and when we go home, I think we should have another child." Guthrie said with a smile. "If it's a boy then we name him Varren, and if it's a girl, Avira." He said, kissing Fren again. "I also think we should ask if Bor will be godfather to the kids. Just in case you know."

 

When the discussion was done the two left the tent and approached Vita, Guthrie holding Cadence's weapon as well as the staff.

"We're ready to go." Guthrie said, nodding to Vita. "Have we heard anything from Nuria or Avira?" He asked, curious what if anything had happened while he and Fren had been alone together.

 

(Remember they haven't seen the hologram.)

[little lost dragon]

Fren smiled and hugged him back, his muscular body against her own. She kissed him back enjoying the moment together like this. What ever the weapon did, the damage Nuria had done seemed to have been cured, at least for now. She pressed her for head against his when he spoke about another child. She smiled "Sounds good to me, I just hope that what ever this did to contain what Nuria's did, stays." she admitted "And I'm sure Bor would love that."

 

When they arrived at the command tent and Guthrie asked about news with Avira and Nuria Vita paused.

"Yes there has been, another reason why we must move as soon as possible, Nuria will have Avira ready for combat, a creature can only be forced through pain and torment for so long before they pass the line of fear, and hit kill or be killed." he said "Now you 2 will spear head the attack, your going in first and your too confront Nuria, the weapons you hold where made with her siblings blessing and I'm assuming judging by the changes, your effectively substitutes for them now. Avira will be one too once you free her." he said before pointing to a werewolf "The general here will be the one you talk to after the battle has commenced, I will remain here but I'll be actively in battle my self." he said. When Fren gave him a confused look "With the base on full power, I've been able to construct decoys of my self now, makesit harder for the enemy to find me, I die, and the base dies." he explained. "Now, many of our forces are still in critical condition, and my army is still being made to make up for losses, we will not win if it comes down to numbers, take Nuria down, and her troops will go into disseray once more allowing us to win, then we'll worry about the castled building energy." he explained.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie glanced at Fren as Vita revealed that there had been news from Nuria and shook his head.

He knew there was no way he could even imagine the kinds of torments that Nuria had devised, nor did he want to. If they ever got Avira back he doubted she would be in any sort of state to fight. Hell they'd be lucky if she hadnt been driven mad by the experience.

"We better get going then." He said with a nod to Vita. "We'll keep Nuria distracted, but we still can't kill her or wipe her memory as originally planned or this entire place will detonate. I could try an put a siphon spell into effect, but I don't know if it will drain her enough to keep her under control. Basically while we're gone you need to come up with a new plan. We need a strategy that can work now that Nuria has a doomsday switch." Guthrie said, making a gesture towards where Bor, Medad and Cadence were being held.

"Have a medical team ready for Avira as well, there's no way she's coming out of this unscathed, and I don't even know if she'll be sane when we rescue her." Guthrie continued before heading off towards battle.

 

Nuria and her now replenished army, numbering around two to three thousand now, were all busily preparing for the inevitable battle when the allies began to close. They had erected their own battlements in the halls, and though they were smaller they were no less effective.

On the wall that Fren and Guthrie approached was Avira, still nailed, spread eagled to two great planks by her hands and feet.

Blood splattered the stones below her and a pair of fox pelts hung from the battlements below her. Nuria appeared to have recently regrown Avira's flesh and was now apparently tiring of her original game and was instead trying different idle tortures like burning her, breaking bones and the like. Nuria herself didn't appear to be bothering with sullying her hands, and was instead lounging on the battlements, leaving the actual torture to a pair of demons who seemed to delight in Avira's attempts at screams, her throat long ago growing hoarse to the point of silence.

"Ah so glad you could come." Nuria said as she glanced down at Fren and Guthrie. "Do you like my new furs? They're so fluffy and warm, I think I'll make them into a nice coat once they've been properly tanned, what do you think?" She asked Guthrie, who had gone white at the sheer brutality of what he was seeing.

"Magic truly is wonderous isn't it?" Nuria continued happily. "She's been awake since you left Fren, and might I add you are looking much better by the way. Anyway, she's been burnt a dozen times and healed, she's been beaten, whipped, cut, broken, and flayed dozens of times, and then on top of it all I've skinned her three times. The first time didn't go so well, but then I figured out the technique and now I have these lovely new pelts." Nuria giggled. "You know for wanting to save the innocent and all that you two are very selfish. All your daughter had to do was come to me and this poor little vixen wouldn't have had to be tortured like this. Her mind is teetering on the edge you know. She's barely hanging on, and if this continues for much longer she'll be reduced to a drooling flesh bag who can't walk, talk, or be anything close to what she once was. So, let's reiterate, bring me Alina, I let this sweet little fox continue to live. C'mon it won't be so bad, I can't have sweet little Alina get hurt. She'll be kept comfortable, and sure she'll be bred every time she's ready, but besides that she'll have all her needs and wants met. A perfect life for your daughter isn't it?"

 

"Except she doesn't want any of that." Guthrie said suddenly. "Alina doesn't want to go with you, to be bred. It's rape what you're suggesting, and that is the foulest thing I can think of." He took a breath and looked up at Nuria again, gauging her mood as best he could.

"Look, you've been wronged, I don't think anyone can deny that. Your siblings made a decision to remove your memories instead of dealing with the issues, and that was wrong. But we have a chance to make it right Nuria. Let's call this war off, sit down, and we can come up with a new solution that everyone can agree to. Just give us Avira, and we'll call for your siblings to join us. All of us can sit down, you can bring whoever you like, and we can discuss all of this in a neutral place." Guthrie said, his voice as soothing as possible as he took a few steps forward, his hands raised in supplication.

To his credit Nuria did seem to think the whole thing over for a second or two, but just like that the moment passed.

"My dear siblings will never agree to negotiate, and even if they did they wouldn't agree to anything remotely fair, so no deal! Don't think I haven't noticed those weapons you're holding. That's old magic they've given you, making you avatars of them, essentially transferring their power to you. Clever really, but so long as you hold those weapons in front of me, and so long as your army threatens me I will not agree to anything. You want peace? Leave those weapons at home, bring the three of them here, make them beg for me to parlay with them. When that happens I might consider it, but only then." Nuria snarled before flicking her wrist at Avira, regenerating then I end vocal cords so that her bloodcurdling screams echoed through the halls, making Guthrie wince as he turned to Fren.

"We could try it, but l don't know if she's actually good for a meeting of if she's just trying to lure us into another game." Guthrie said, leaning into Fren so that she could hear him a bit better. "Your call..."

[little lost dragon]

Vita nodded "I will attempt to, but options are limited with out a direct link to the castle." he said.

 

When they arrived Fren nearly went into combat mode right away. Nuria seemed to be pointless pain inducing as well. But Guthrie to her suprize started to try to talk to her. She closed her eye's and she felt her weapon give her a small pulse into her arm and to her mind before opening them again and coming along side Guthrie as he spoke about making a deal. Though Nuria while she seemed to consider it, she gave terms that where essantally what she wanted. With all the threats to her disarmed, she would be free to go about things anyway.

"She's ambision and lust, out of control right now, the terms give her the upper hand so severly she'd be free to do what she wanted to anyway." she replied to Guthrie before looking back at Nuria "How about this, we'll call off our army, when you call off yours, you put your power into a amulet, and we'll have your siblings do the same, we'll put the weapons down, and then we will meet up in the library. Just us, you, and your siblings. You where wronged yes as Guthrie left but you've given up any leverage that might of given with what you did to me, and Avira, not including anyone else." she said "I got your siblings to consider letting you keep your memory when you where at there mercy, I'm sure if I could vouch for you, desbite what you did, it would carry some weight to them. Where not asking for the kill switch on the castle, but we will ask for Avira." she said walking up to Nuria "Its either that, or we are forced to fight you, your army attacked, and the terms keeping your siblings at bay, are terminated. YOu can't rule something that is already dead." she pointed out before taking a step back.

 

"What will it be? We can have a meeting level with everyone, I can make sure you keep your memory and instead of resetting you, you learn and grow and a fair deal is put into place. Or we fight till your siblings over power you, destroy your army while we fight you." she said bluntly

[Ryujin13]

Nuria's red hair began to smolder and burn at the ends the longer Fren talked, angry that a mortal would talk this way to her. Still Fren was making sense, and even through the violence, ambition and lust clouding her mind Nuria could still see the wisdom in at least humoring the meeting.

With a snap of her fingers Avira suddenly stopped screaming as she sagged into unconsciousness, the spikes through her hands the only thing supporting her as the two demons dragged Avira's cross away.

"I'll humor you, I'll go to this little meeting and I'll listen to what my dear siblings have to say, but somehow I doubt anything will come of it." Nuria said, pacing along the top of the wall as she spoke. "I'll even put my power into a receptacle like you suggest, but I warn you now, any sign of deceit and I will take back my power and flay you alive before anyone can stop me. You will die before your little spirit here can heal you." Nuria snarled, gesturing at Guthrie. "I'll meet you there in an hour. Failure to comply with your own suggestions will result in the continued torture of my foxy friend, and the slow death of both of you." Nuria finished before walking off without another word.

Guthrie tried to say something before she left but Nuria didn't seem to care, leaving him and Fren alone except for the guards on top of the wall, all of who seemed to be a kind of half dragon looking beings.

Without another word Guthrie turned and left with Fren, heading back to give his report to Vita.

"What are we going to do?" Guthrie asked after a few seconds. "Do we follow through with what we said or...?" He shrugged as they moved down the hall and off towards the base.

 

[little lost dragon]

Fren narrowed her eye's as Nuria replied. Then left though took Avira with her. At least the fox girl was no longer feeling the pain right now. She turned around with Guthrie and began to make way back. She frowned and closed her eye's "We'll do what we said we'll do, personally she could die in a hole for all I care, but death is not a thing for her kind sadly. If we can resolve this with out more blood shed I want to do that." she said before opening her eye's and looking at Guthrie as they went "Worst case, she detonates the place as we fight, but I'd rather death to us, and our family then to allow our children become her pawns." she admitted as they went.

 

After some time she sighed "I have a plan for this, I just hope it works, Vita will be our wild card here Guthrie, he can make troops, lead army's, and he personally can fight long and hard. Yet keeps a cool head even if its a robot thing." she said "He'll be in possession of our weapons, and Nuria's siblings amulets. If things go sour, I expect Nuria to have something in back up as well, a foe like her knows to be ready, she's been fighting against 3-1 odds when it comes to her siblings." she pointed out "As of now, Avira is dead to us, it may sound harsh but she would not want us to allow Nuria to use her a black mail. She got lucky with the castle, but she expected to die when it took her as well. However, if we can save her, we will." she said looking away. "I know it sounds harsh...... cruel, we owe Avira, and she took my place when Nuria released one of us, she's a trained solder." she said with a sigh.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie stopped abruptly when Fren mentioned her worst case scenario and shook his head.

"No, that is not an option Fren." He said vehemently. "It is not our choice to make, not now, not ever. If we allowed her to detonate this place it would end countless lives, all of them innocent, all of them completely ignorant to what is going on in this place. The fact that you'd even suggest that that makes me disappointed in you Fren."

He looked at her for a long moment then shook his head angrily and walked on, continuing to listen as Fren spoke. "As much as it pains me to say I agree about Avira." He said, his eyes hard as they passed the first signs of the allied forces. "If it comes to it I'll end her life myself, better an end to the pain then continued life in the hands of Nuria. Frankly I'm not sure there's anything left to save. Like Nuria said, that woman's on the edge and even a tiny nudge will send her plummeting into madness. Better that her spirit is put to rest then allowed to fracture in madness."

As they approached the walls Guthrie suddenly stopped again and sighed, leaning against the wall.

"I'm sorry I said that Fren." He said quietly. "We shouldn't let her detonate this place, but I didn't need to say what I did to get my point across."

He looked at Fren silently, then looked down again as he shook his head. "I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of the stress, and I want to go home Fren. I want to see the kids again, I want to live with you in our house near the creek again, and I want to see all of this come to an end."

He was silent for awhile after that, his eyes closed as he leaned against the wall.

"Remember when we first met?" He asked suddenly. "I was so nervous, you were beautiful then, but you were also so cold. I still stuttered back then remember? That was when I knew the truth but couldn't convince anyone else. I was so scared when I showed you that place with the hologram. You were my last hope, but I was afraid you were a trap set by the other shamans. Did you know I stood around for two hours before I worked up the courage to wake you up and take you there?"

Guthrie chuckled a little at the memory, then looked up at Fren again. "I still think you're beautiful, and I don't want to lose you because I said something stupid. I'm sorry I did that, can you forgive me?" He asked, leaning forward and kissing Fren as they embraced.

[little lost dragon]

Fren looked at Guthrie as he told her it was not an option. "Countless lives would be spared the cruelty and devastation that would be inflicted on them and there children and more otherwise." she simply stated before they resumed. She got a little confused when Guthrie spoke about sparing Avira madness so soon after telling her Nuria's rule was better then death. She shook her head and continued on till Guthrie came to another pause, she stopped as well and put her hands on her hips. If he was going to chew her out he'd have another thing coming.

But instead he apoligised and she relaxed her stance and came over as he spoke about wanting to return home and not need to deal with this war anymore. She smiled when he asked her if she remembered how they first met, sadly patchy but there. She blushed a little when he said she was beautiful, she shook her head a little when he mentioned her being cold. "You still stutter at times." she commented "But no where near as much as you did back then. To be honest..... I was very surpized if I recal when you woke me up to show me that hologram, after you told me the stakes, I honestly did not expect you to risk it." she admitted

She gave him a hug "Guthrie, your not perfect, I'm not perfect, we all have flaws, I'm not about to leave you just because you don't see something the way I do." she told him firmly in the hug "Your my husband and mate, we've been together for over 10 years, I'm not about to let war stress drive us apart." she assured him looking into his eye's sternly before they softened and she gave him a kiss "I forgive you, now, we got a meeting to prep and attend." she said giving him a gentle squeeze in the hug before they resumed.

 

When they arrived Fren explained things and Vita at first shook his head. But with Guthries help they got him to consider it at least. they then went to Bor Medad and there other sister. "Greetings, I need to make this fast, I've managed to convince Nuria to allow a meeting between us all, you all including her are to put your all your powers into amulets and Vita will be the one carrying them. Afterwards we'll make way to the meeting room and Nurai will hand her amulet over as well. This way everyone can't use powers at this meeting and everyone is on equal footing. Vita will also be carrying our weapons. A fair deal will be made." she said before raising her hand before any objection could be made "If it comes down to a fight, our chances of surviving this are very low, so I expect you all to work with me on this. And yes, these are my rules for this meeting, Nuria has already heard them." she stated. "I need the amulets ready right away, then we'll head to the castle library, the meeting location." she said in a commanding tone.

[Ryujin13]

When Guthrie and Fren returned to the camp both Bor and Medad looked up with a mix of surprise and apprehension. When the situation was explained the three siblings gave each other looks, then each closed their right fist fight. A glow matching their color came from the closed fists, and a second later all three opened their hands to reveal a colored crystal in their palms, each about the size of a human thumb.

 

"These are in essence the sum of our current power manifested in a physical form." Medad said as he looked down at the crystal. "It's a temporary measure you understand. This is like emptying a bucket then replacing it beneath the faucet. Given time our power will return, and so will Nuria's. I tell you this only in case you think that depriving Nuria of her power will allow you to have her under your control long term." Medad said as he and the others handed the crystals to Fren.

"Nuria won't give her crystal up to Vita." Bor said thoughtfully. "She's angry, hurt, and not a little paranoid at this point. She'll demand something of equal value, so be prepared."

"She has good reason to be paranoid." Guthrie muttered under his breath.

"We had the best reasons for doing what we've done!" Medad said, his voice raising angrily. "She is a danger to all of existence and the solution we reached was the best one until this happened."

with that the three siblings left their cells while Guthrie and Fren's weapons both turned to liquid again and formed bands around their right wrists. No matter how much willpower they put into trying to change them into a new form though the bands remained unchanging. The silver bow from Cadence formed another band around Guthrie's wrist, just above the green one, leaving both of them defenseless.

 

The walk to the library was a long one, but when they arrived it was to find a space near the front with a long table set up. On one end sat Nuria, an extremely large and muscular half dragon at her side. While the other was obviously open to the allies. The huge guardian of the library was watching the whole thing nearby, it's crystalline form nesting as its eyes tracked the visitors to its realm. It growled quietly at any sudden movements, but for the moment seemed content to watch.

 

The half dragon was red with streaks of jet-black on its skin, while its eyes glowed a hellish red. Around its wrist was a red band like the ones Guthrie and Fren had on, while over its shoulder was slung the limp form of Avira. Her major wounds had been healed it looked like, but her hands and feet where the stakes had held her to the wood were ruins of matted fur and bone, the stakes obviously having been ripped out without much consideration.

 

"I wouldn't bother worrying about her." Nuria said loftily as she sat in her chair and put her feet on the table. "She'll survive, I've made sure of that, and because I'm such a caring person I've even made it so that you can heal her fully and easily. That being said she'll have to live with scars for the rest of her life. A little momento from insulting a demigod." Nuria chuckled nastily and made a gesture, causing the half-dragon to set Nuria none to gently on the ground before seating himself.

 

"Did you drain your power?" Bor asked, gesturing to the glowing crystals that Vita carried.

"Aye." Nuria said with a smile, holding up her red crystal which glowed brightly between her thumb and forefinger.

"I'm not handing it off to the metal man though." She said before Vita even made to move her way.

"Not unless I have your crystals in return. I have your power you have mine. Seems fair." She drawled lazily.

"Agreed." Medad said almost instantly, waiting until the exchange was made before continuing. "Ok, as we all know we are here to stop any more bloodshed from happening, and to make a deal that will benefit us all so that we can live in a pe-"

"Shut up Medad." Nuria said over him, a hint of anger in her voice. "We're here because I foiled your little plan to brainwash me whenever I became inconvenient. I managed to keep you from doing it, I raised an army, and I was close to unlocking what's apparently all of my power and memories. So let's try again. We are here because you three want to get me back under control. That's not going to happen. I will never let any of you anywhere near my mind. If it weren't for the fact that I can't without first ending existence, I would kill the three of you and I would be within my rights to do so! You took away who I was countless times because it was convenient, and now you're paying for it. So, what are you offering to keep me under control? Hmm? I doubt it's enough, nothing's enough because even the pitiful humans whose forms we take would consider what you did to be a war crime! Even the little half-spirit beside that lizard admits that I was wronged! So, what are you offering?" Nuria asked, the ends of her red hair smoldering with hate as she gazed upon her siblings.

"What are your demands?" Medad countered calmly, causing Nuria's eyes to narrow with anger.

"My demands? Well let's see... I want to be left alone, I never want to interact with any of you ever again, I want my memories intact along with anything else you've taken that you can give me back. I want no restrictions on myself or those who choose to follow me, I will be taking over one of the realities that has no form yet and I will rule it as I see fit. There will be no interference from any of you, and in repayment for your crimes you will hand over Alina to be my pet for the rest of eternity. Her species has to be preserved after all."

 

[little lost dragon]

Fren crossed her arms across her her chest and shook her head "Alina like the rest with Guthrie and I did what we felt was right to do, with what limited info we where allowed to get, all we knew was you where running rampant. You would have done the same in our place. So as such I can not agree to to just hand Alina over, its her speices she's apart of, its her move to become mother to her race to allow it to live or not. She's not silencing anything by not doing so." Fren stated

"Now this is not a meeting for you to try to get your way in a pocket dimension Nuria, this is a meeting where something is worked out between you and your siblings. As they will need to cooperate as well. Now you all are guilty here. Be it for wiping Nuria's mind each time this happens, or taking out ones anger on others or taking advantage of them or more. No ones here to get the upper hand on anyone. Now, you 3, you owe your sister an apology for the war crime you committed, as well I'm sure she'll want her memory back of the last times. I know in her place I'd want my memory back as well all things considered." she started before looking at Nuria "You have to bind your self to a promise Nuria, you need to learn to keep your self under your own control, no more of this trying to be on the top behaver, I understand your made of ambision, but such can be controlled and be something good. As well as lust. I'm sure you heard me when I spoke to your siblings about keeping powers under control." she said before standing up "In return for there apology, and restoring your memory, we need you to promise and bind your self to it, to learn to work with your siblings, as they will need to learn to work with you." she explained before looking at the 3 "Its a 2 way path, and you all need to meet her half way as well."

"If you all continue this cycle, all that will happen is more blood shed, which I'm sure if Nuria had her memory, even she would tire from it, after all a queen can't lead with no one to rule over. You 4 will allow be allowed to have your own followers, and provided one of you does not try to force your will on anyone, none of you may interfere with the others activity's." she firmly stated before looking at Nuria "Should this place detonate, we are all dead after all, the universes will be next to nothing from it, considering you and your siblings are embodiment of factors of the mortals, even if you survive you would be far too weak to do anything." she pointed out before looking at them all "Now, I've laid out the base of this deal, this is between you 4 now, Guthrie and I will leave with Vita if you 4 want the rest of this to be private." she offered.

 

 

[Ryujin13]

"Fren's right Nuria, an agreement needs to be reached, and Alina isn't going to be apart of that agreement." Bor said diplomatically. "If we give her up then we are condemning an innocent girl to a life of what amounts to rape. This we won't do."

"Oh but you will wipe your own sisters memories, take her powers and basically hit the reset button every time she becomes a problem?! That's just per-"

"Nuria! Please stop." Cadence said, raising her voice slightly to get her sisters attention. "We need to reach an agreement, and that means making concessions. The three of us do apologize for what we did, but it was truly the best solution we could come up with. Now we're trying to make a new solution that will work for everyone, so we need to be reasonable and work together."

Surprisingly Nuria quieted down, rolling her eyes and sitting back with her arms crossed but giving up her attack on Bor.

"Fine but I still want my dimension." Nuria said after a few moments.

"Why so you can torture and maim others for your amusement like you did Avira?" Guthrie asked, gesturing angrily towards where Avira lay on the ground.

"What I do in my dimension is my business mortal!" Nuria shouted, surging upright dangerously. "But if you must know the dimension I would acquire would be formless, it's literally nothing but random arcs of energy with molecules thrown in. What form I choose to prod those molecules towards is my choice of course, but as I said its my dimension. Second, the life I create wouldn't be true life in the sense you think of. I am not a god, I cannot create souls. All I would make are simulacrums that look and act like a life would, but wouldn't in reality be alive. It would be a race of robots in essence." Nuria explained impatiently.

"Actually this could work." Medad said thoughtfully, causing Guthrie to look over in confusion. "Our biggest problem with Nuria has always been what amounts to to much power combined with boredom. You get power from the base feelings mortals. Lust and ambition are always what we center on but there's more then just two major emotions in mortals. There's sadness, happiness, anger and many others. You also embody things like a persons fighting spirit, their will to win, pride, even hope. You're not just destruction you're also emotions Nuria, you just need to remember that when your power starts to swell." Medad said. "So what I propose is essentially giving you what you've wanted. While you're swelled with power you need an outlet. We give you a dimension all to yourself, and you use your excess power to do whatever you please. Create what you want, do what you want, and when your power begins to decline once more, we freeze the dimension in time until the next time we need it. In exchange you agree to take lessons in control with Cadence, Nuria. We need you to be able to do what's required of you without exploding every time something doesn't go your way agreed?"

Nuria mulled the whole thing over for a good while, leaning back in her chair and looking at the city idly.

"I can do whatever I want in my dimension?" She asked finally. "Anything at all? If I created a race of frogs and decided to boil their toes until their heads popped you wouldn't stop me?"

"Well we'd ask you not to, and probably want reasons why, but if that's the course of action that you choose to follow then so be it."

 

[little lost dragon]

Fren looked at them as they spoke. Seemed they got the idea now. Though it was like keeping an eye on 4 children, 4 children that ok, had powers that could vaporize just about anything they desired or create and such, but none the less, she had to lay down the ground rules, set up the meeting, explain to each one the reasons why there last plan would not work, explain her own solution, then baby sit them as they talked it out.

She nodded and sighed when they seemed to come to a agreement "Sounds fair." she said with a nod glancing at Guthrie. She knew he was not big on the idea of Nuria having her own dimension, true life or not. But She was not going to push the first meeting that made progress too far on its first go. "If those terms are the ones you can settle on, all that is left, is a method to bind you all to the agreement, something you all agree on of course." she said looking at the 4.

[little lost dragon]

(Bump, been a bit, everything alright?)